COURTNEY: Yo, so, this is me…My name is Courtney Copeland. The reason I’m here is to retire my parents. 2015 is the biggest year of my life. You know, the world is ours. You know, and we just have to get out there and get it. Let’s get it.

The world is ours, we just have to get out there and get it. 

Before Courtney died, I was too afraid to travel far. I’ve always had the fear of flying. 

But Courtney wanted us to travel more and see the world with him. 

Courtney only got a taste of what’s out there.

But since he’s been gone, I’ve been all over this world. 

It started when Courtney came to me in a dream. He told me...mom I want you to live. I want you to go to Dubai. And I was like, Dubai? When I woke up, I booked the trip.

SHAPEARL: We are at the Dubai Mall... 

Me and the whole family went.

SHAPEARL: This mall is so huge…

But Brazil? I went there on my own.

Here I am in the city of Salvador. 

I took this video of people dancing outside my window late at night. I was trying to sleep, but everyone was so happy, I couldn’t be mad at them. 

I went for a gathering of mothers of murdered children...There were about a hundred of us, from all over. All of us, fighting the same struggle we’re fighting in Chicago. 

In Salvador, we were not far from the main square...where they used to auction off slaves. I was surprised that Brazil was so afro-centric and so black but then that’s when I started to understand the amount of slaves that were actually sent to Brazil, and so it was a learning experience for me.

There were so many languages spoken at this summit. Mom after mom, we told our stories. There was one mom whose child died of hunger and thirst in prison. There was another mom whose son got shot by police during a massacre.

Then it was my turn. 

SHAPEARL: My heart rejoices to see the unity that is in this place. [translator] This reunion have brought the pain of a lot of mothers but my message to the mothers today is, I don’t want you to mourn any longer. But to rejoice in the life of your children. Because they are more than what happened to them. I think about Courtney, I think about all the mothers who told their testimony and stories, and there’s one thing that keeps coming to my head. And I recall my aunt telling me, after Courtney died, and I tell you, They can never kill the light. Never kill the light.

Brazil. It restored my soul. All this time I’d been fighting so hard I hadn’t really had time to mourn. I had to put all that on a shelf, because I had work to do. 

I was starting to feel stronger. And it’s a good thing...because when I got back home, I needed all the strength I could get. 

Our case against the City of Chicago was looking like an uphill battle. The city’s lawyers kept fighting us in court. They kept denying everything. Even the handcuffing….

And eventually, my lawyers said that we should dismiss the case. That these cases were just too hard to win

I was devastated. I was heartbroken. 

After the lawyers told us that, Brent and I sat in an empty conference room at the courthouse. 

BRENT: I mean ‘cuz we've been through lawyer after lawyer and it's...they just don't want to mess with it.

SHAPEARL: I think it boils down to what CPD can get away with legally, which, for me, is the reason why I feel like so many laws and things have to be changed, so that they don't have to...they don’t have as much power as they do…And for the average person in America, you cannot win against CPD.

 It didn’t take long for the police lawyers to announce their victory.

They wrote on their website that the lawsuit was “unnecessary.” 

And they called the dismissal, “a win for the City of Chicago and the police department.”

The lawsuit was over.  

And, our investigation was too. We already gave detectives all of our evidence, the names of suspects and witnesses.

But I was not gonna let my baby die for nothing. 

What if? What if the world was different? What if Chicago was different?

What if moms like me didn’t have to dress their sons in tuxedos, put them in caskets and lower them into the ground?

SHAPEARL: Well I’m on my way to meet with the state rep right now to propose Courtney’s Law…

Me and my state rep...we’ve had a couple conversations now about all the reforms needed. 

SHAPEARL: What my investigation has pulled together, things that I want to try to put into this law of Courtney’s law is, one, police must provide life-saving techniques because they were first on the scene. I think they should have administered that. 

I want Chicago police to take people who’ve been shot immediately to the hospital.

And… I want those police pod cameras to work…and hold footage longer…and all public records? They should be in one place so victims’ families don’t have to get the run around.

SHAPEARL: So that’s why I’m trying to fight for other people. Courtney, is finished. That is done. But if I can prevent other parents from experiencing this type of pain? ….What I want for other parents is that they know with certainty their child died with dignity and respect. I realize in all of this process, that didn’t happen for my son. 

I read a story about a thing that police do in Philadelphia. They call it scoop and run. Police pick up people who’ve been shot and drive them to the hospital themselves. They don’t wait for an ambulance. 

Here’s video of a scoop and run in progress. It sounds chaotic, but it’s actually police trying to help someone.

IAN: This was the scariest moment of my life. By far...

Ian Hirst-Hermans was around the same age as Courtney when he was shot in the middle of the night outside a party in Philly.

Two police officers arrived on the scene.

IAN: They looked at each other, gave a nod, one grabbed my arms and one grabbed my legs. The only issue was is this guy gonna bleed out or not.

SHAPEARL: So from the time that you got shot, until the time that you arrived to the hospital, approximately how many minutes was that?

IAN: It's hard to say. I would say less than five minutes. Absolutely less than five minutes.

In Philly, about a third of gunshot victims are brought into hospitals by police themselves.

Police saved Ian’s life by running him to the E.R.

IAN: I found out the next day that I had about 45 seconds to a minute before I would have bled out....I was panicking beyond belief. But the police officers were doing everything they can to keep me calm. The one officer was turned around asking me questions about school, asking me about my family, just trying to keep me awake and alert.

Right when they pulled into the emergency room, the ambulance pulled onto the street.

IAN: And one of the cops kind of jokingly said to me, you know, “There goes your ride.” … The way it seems now is, if I was shot in any other major city other than Philadelphia, I probably wouldn't have survived....It's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around that not being the case. Um, I know it's not in every cop's job description, but it just seems like, it seems like something that just goes along with protecting the community.

SHAPEARL: I always believed that if my son could have gotten the care that you've gotten, that he would be alive today. So had he gotten to the hospital in time, you know, within five minutes, ten minutes max, if he would have gotten to the hospital, I think they could have saved his life.

IAN: [sighs] I'm so sorry to hear that. That makes me feel so terrible.

Ian has grown close to the officers who saved him. He even tattooed their names of the officers on his chest. 

IAN: They came and saw me the next morning after I was shot. Made a joke about how I gotta clean out the back of their car because there's got so much blood in it. You know, these two guys saved my life, whether it was their job or not. So I still keep in touch with them. Yeah I wouldn’t be here without them. So I just always keep them really close.

I can’t help but think how differently I’d feel if those officers had just scooped up my son and rushed him to the hospital.

Of course, Ian is white—would Philly police have picked up Courtney and rushed him to the E-R? We can’t say for sure.

Scoop and run is a longstanding practice in Philly, but not in Chicago. 

It is allowed here. Chicago police have the discretion to do it... but the practice isn’t encouraged. 

What if...my son’s life mattered to police like Ian’s did to the when officers who saved him?

What if, when my son came to police begging them for help,...

They didn’t handcuff him?

They didn’t check to see if he really owned his car?

What if they went with him in the ambulance?

What if it had been their kid who had been shot on that corner? 

NEWS: The consent decree is a 225-page document that is the result of ten months of negotiations between the attorney general's office, the police department and the city, after two highly critical reports found systemic problems in the police department in the use of unnecessary and deadly force.. Lisa Madigan’s office sued the city to force reforms, many of which she acknowledged are already in place.

In the years since Courtney died, the federal court has ordered Chicago Police to clean up their act. Officers will have to report every time they point their guns at people. They won’t be able to use chokeholds. And there are more changes...lots more changes…

Under the consent decree, all of Chicago police officers will have to take medical and rescue training. And use it to help people who are injured. Even before paramedics arrive. Immediately. With no delays.

They weren’t required to do any of that before.

CHANCE: It's tough living this life in the skin we're in. 

This is Courtney’s high school friend again, Chance the Rapper.

CHANCE: I just wish that he was... respected as a human life on the level that he should have been, that we respected him. And you know... you can't, you can't change the skin you're in. You just like... you just live your life. And you know he lived it to the fullest. 

There are so many people, so many people who care about Courtney…Every time I’ve interviewed one of them...It’s like I bring him back to life a little…

CHRIS: He was one out of a trillion.

BRITTANY: Everybody needs somebody like Courtney Copeland in life.

ROCIO: He taught me to believe in myself

CHRIS: Something he always used to say was everyone deserves happiness. That’s what he gave people.

ROCIO: And he would always make me laugh. You know? No matter what that man would make me laugh. HE would make all of us laugh.

JESSICA: I just remember thinking to myself, like, where does he get all this energy from?

JOVA: I miss him dearly because, on my difficult days, he was always there for me.

CHRIS: If there was more people like him, this world would be a lot different.

I tried to interview Courtney’s sisters, Kayla and Jasmyne. They still aren’t ready to talk about what happened….

SHAPEARL: Tell us about your relationship with your brother.

SHAPEARL: It's ok. It's ok. It's ok. You're gonna be able to do this. Jasmyne. I know it's hard for you. 

...so we talk about other memories…

SHAPEARL: Every day when Courtney came home he would lay in your bed right Kayla? Tell us about that. 

KAYLA: I just never got to lay in my bed cuz he always there. And he would do it just to annoy me. 

SHAPEARL: So what happened? Like when you got home from school.. 

KAYLA: I would have to fight him out of my bed. 

SHAPEARL: Why?

KAYLA: Cuz he wouldn't  get up.

SHAPEARL: He wouldn't get up, he would always like to lay in your bed? 

KAYLA: Mhm.

SHAPEARL: Hey Courtney. [bird chirping] So hard…

SHAPEARL: I love you. Mommy loves you so much…I hope you knew that..how much I love you, how much I still love you.

After all this time since Courtney passed away...all this fighting for the truth...I just keep coming back to the fact that my baby is gone....

SHAPEARL: I hope you know. 

BILL: Can we look at the room?

SHAPEARL: Yeah! Its downstairs... 

I started a foundation in Courtney’s name. 

SHAPEARL: This is our little Santa workshop down here.

We do this big Christmas giveaway in Courtney’s honor every year. His bedroom is is filled with toys. And we hold a big party at our church for all the kids.

SHAPEARL: Everybody say "Courtney love the kids" so he used to always take care of all his friends' kids and he like adopted them all. 

At Christmastime I always get together with my friend Santita Jackson and help her decorate her place for the holidays…

SHAPEARL: How have you seen me change in the last two years? 

SANTITA: You've just become... you’re just Shapearl taking to the nth degree. No now your circle has expanded. I’ve seen you become even more travelled….. I mean you're someone who's not afraid of living. You live. You live you live. You live. You live. You live live live live. But I've seen you. This is a mission for you. …..And it's like you are saying, “Okay, Courtney. I'm a go on and finish walking for you,” The world's gonna benefit. World's gonna benefit from you being more of who Shapearl is. You're going to triumph. I believe that.

Courtney’s sisters are in college now. But me and Brent don’t exactly have an empty nest. 

Our baby foster twins, Faith and Sahara, they’re walking around and getting into everything. I’m trying my best to potty train them, Sahara always takes off from her potty, and then Faith takes off too. This is going to be a long process. 

After taking on the twins, I opened up my home to their older sisters too. They’re teenagers. It’s tough sometimes. But I hope they know I’m on their side.

Me and Brent celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. Brent planned a party for us. I got him some turntables because he was a DJ before he went to truck driving school. He was so stoked.

SHAPEARL: You guys ready to eat? I know you’re probably hungry!

Me and Alison and Jamie and all the Invisible Institute are still real tight. We had a party at my house not too long ago. I cooked up a storm. I made spaghetti, cajun chicken pasta. Fried chicken.

Alison brought Mac ‘n Cheese. She’s got her hands full too. She’s expecting another little baby boy next spring. When she told me, I screamed.

SHAPEARL: AHHHH!!! Oh my goodness!!

ALISON: Yeah, three months along…

We’re going to get the twins and her little ones together for a play date.

And then there’s Bebe. Someday, we’ll have to say goodbye to this car. Cars don’t run forever.

SHAPEARL: I call this, like, my heritage wall….. I love black art. It’s just, it’s just our history. 

The other day, I was showing Alison the paintings up all over my house.

SHAPEARL: And so if you look around, this one over here in the corner basically is talking about the woman who touched the hand of Jesus garments, and then this one over here in the corner is about the Underground Railroad. This one here is a slave in captivity, and that one is Frederick Douglass. I always tried to teach my kids about where they came from. About that, we didn't start off as slaves but this is something that happened to us.

There’s one painting in particular in my dining room. His face is in his hands and his hands are shackled.

The painting is called “The Struggle Lives On.”

ALISON: I've probably sat at this table what a dozen times at least. And this is the first time I'm noticing this picture on the wall.

SHAPEARL: I've had it for probably like 20 years now and it's always been very special to me. 

SHAPEARL: And we don't know when the artist was painting that if that was somebody’s last moments last time you know that they're gonna be alive. Could be. Because we see that he's in deep despair.

This is the story of my son Courtney.  A young black man. In a fancy car. 

SHAPEARL: Black people have been shackled and abused for so long and then you have this happen to your child...

He wound up with a bullet in his back outside of a Chicago police station.

SHAPEARL: As a mother, you do whatever you can to protect your child, and in that moment I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. And then you sit here and you like, I should've been there and it was beyond my control.

And it’s the story of my search for the truth.

SHAPEARL:...the hardest moment in my life was finding out my son had died and it's still the hardest moment, living without him. That's my reality. 

My son Courtney Copeland was somebody.

THEME: “Everybody’s Something” by Chance the Rapper